STOCKPORT County’s loss was very much Rochdale’s gain when it came to Andy Cannon.

The youngster came on for the second half of Dale’s stunning 3-2 win at Leyton Orient on Saturday with the team trailing 2-1 and down to 10 men.

The 18-year-old was used as right-back in Dale’s comeback at the Matchroom Stadium and produced a mature, polished display which belied his inexperience of first-team football.

One of seven first-team players to progress through the club’s youth system, Dale number two Chris Beech hailed Cannon’s arrival on the scene.

“Andy’s really good. I was fortunate to get him as scholar when the youth system at Stockport folded. We had our ears to the ground and I gave him a scholarship after just a couple of days,” said Beech.

“He went out to Tenerife with us, where he was excellent, and we spoke to him midweek about believing that he was going to get a chance. He’s come away with the first team and circumstances have prevailed.

“He’s played a lot at full back in the bounce games that we arrange and he has done ever so well. We felt we needed a little bit of energy in there to support Peter Vincenti who would play out wide on the right and we split Matty Done to the other side.

“And Andy was brilliant – he was taking the ball down the line, he was inside, he was composed and he’s had a shot on goal, so it was really good.”